INDIA returned with a silver and a bronze from the Olympic Games in Rio, both achieved with barely three days left for the competition to end. But not many recall that the contingent could have claimed a medal on just the second day of the competition.
In the 48kg women’s weightlifting category, Mirabai Chanu had stepped on to the dais with a total lift of 192 kg behind her, a national record achieved just a couple of months before at the selection trials in Patiala. But in Rio, Chanu managed just a single clean lift of 82kg in the snatch segment. The silver in Rio went to Indonesia’s Wahyuni Agustiani — she lifted 192 kg.
President Pranab Mukherjee gave away the prestigious Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna to Rio Olympics medallists PV Sindhu and Sakshi Malik alongside high achievers in gymnast Dipa Karmakar and shooter Jitu Rai. Sindhu had won a silver medal in women’s badminton singles event in Rio and Sakshi had won the bronze medal in women’s freestyle wrestling.
